Red ink quarter rattles Maersk shareholders

NOVEMBER 7, 2017 – A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S reported a third quarter loss of $1.5 billion, including discontinued operations, compared to a profit of $438 million in the same quarter of 2016. The net loss included an accounting impairment of $1.75 billion in Maersk Drilling following classification as a discontinued operations and impairments of $374 million in APM Terminals.

Maersk shares in Copenhagen fell by around 7% on the results.

The third quarter report that reveals that the June cyber attack suffered by the group had an impact of around $ 250-300 million, mostly on Maersk Line.

On the other side of the coin, revenues increased by $973 million to $8 billion with a $771 million (14%) increase in Maersk Line mainly due to higher freight rates.

Overall A.P. Moller - Maersk reported an underlying profit from continuing operations of $248 million (compared to a 2016 loss of $42 million).

"Market fundamentals stayed positive with global container volume growth at 5% in the third quarter compared to the same period last year and an increase in nominal supply of 3%," says Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S. "However, contingency initiatives related to recovery after the cyber-attack resulted in a negative development in Maersk Line volumes of 2.5% and increase in unit cost of 3.9% at fixed bunker prices."

Overall, the group sees the third quarter of the year as "a defining quarter of major change, where strong and viable solutions were found for Maersk Oil and Maersk Tankers."

Additionally it announced that the Salling Companies are to acquire the remaining 19% share in the Dansk Supermarked Group.